Aerating-agitator.



UNITED STATES PATENT OF ICE. Y

BEEKMAN D. HOOPER, OF JAMAICA, NEW YORK.

AERATlNG-AGITATOR;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 716,840, dated December 23, 1902.

Application filed December 14, 1901. Serial No. 85,998. (No model.)

T0 to whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BEEKMAN D. Hoornn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Jamaica, in the county of Queens and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Aerating-Agitators, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, on line m y, Fig. 2; and Fig. 2 is a plan view of such an aerating-agitator.

My invention relates to that class of agitators by means of which air from the atmosphere is caused to most intimately commingle with a certain substance or a mixture of substances, whether liquid, semiliquid, or solid, so that the resulting mass may not only be thoroughly and homogeneously mixed, but also attain the desired consistency, especially as to greatly-increased bulk. r

The object of my invention is to furnish a device of this description which will accomplish its task more thoroughly and satisfactorily and in considerably less time than it is possible with other apparatus of this nature at present in use and which at the same time is simple in construction, less fatiguing to the operator, which may be cleansed easily, and which in point of cost is comparatively inexpensive.

To this end the invention consists in certain novel features of'construction and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which like symbols of reference indicate like parts in the several figures or wherever used throughout thisspecification, A is a base, and B B are two standards. Leaning against the latter and supported by the former is a vessel O and placed within this a smaller vessel D in such a manner that the space between the two vessels may be occupied by either ice or hot water or similar substances suitable for cooling or heating the contents of vessel D. Both vessels are preferably elliptical in their horizontal planes, for reasons more fully explained hereinafter.

Detachably secured to standards B B by means of trunnions s s at one end and at the other end by means of a screw-rod .F to base Ais a frame E, the extensions or legs 6 e of which rest on top rim of vessel D. While head of screw-rod F at its lower end engages the latter with base A, awing-nut f serves to secure the proper position of frame E over and across vessels 0 and D on screw-rod F, entering slot 6 of frame E. This frame E carries three gears M, N, and O, suitably mounted in journal-bearings, of which the two smaller ones M and N are provided with teeth, equal in number, which mesh with the teeth of the larger gear 0. This latter gear is set in motion through crank G and handle H. To the two smaller gears M and N are rigidly secured cranks m and 72., respectively, whose crank-pins m and n are pivotally connected by a rod or arm I in such a manner that the centers of crank-pins m and n are at all times as far apart as the centers of the two smaller gears M and N. Extending downward and forming part of arm I is socket 1;, which is adapted to receive and firmly hold in place stem J of the agitating member, which is shown to consist of a plurality of wire loops ZZZ, each loop being secured to stem J at its two ends, though not necessarily coming in contact with other loops at any other point.

The center line of the agitating member is arranged tobe at an angle of about sixty-five degrees to the center line of connecting rod or arm I. Preferably a fly-wheel K is rigidly connected to one of the two smaller gears M and N to obtain a more uniform motion in a manner well understood.

To operate the aforedescribed agitator, after vessel D is charged with the substance or substances to be agitated and aerated and vessel 0 has received its charge of ice or hot water, as may be required, according to respective properties of the materials contained in vessel D, crankG is turned in such a directionwthat the motion of the two smaller gears M and N is in a direction as indicated by arrows and the motion of the agitating member in a corresponding direction. The

lower end of the agitating member Will then. point in the direction of its forward motion when starting from a position as shown in Fig. 1.

By reason of the connecting rod or arm I always moving in a vertical plane while remaining in a substantially horizontal position in consequence of the arrangement,as shown, of gears M and N it is evident that every point on arm I, stem J, and wire loops Z U will describe a circle in the same direction and of the same diameter as that of the centers of the crank-pins m and n.

In an application for Letters Patent of the United States filed by me October 8, 1901, Serial No. 78,018, I have described and shown an agitating member arranged to possess a substantially identical motion,obtained, however, in a somewhat-different manner from the one herein disclosed. Extended experience has shown that for certain substances or combinations of substances a thorough agitating and aerating action may under certain conditions be obtained without an artificial or forced supply of air, as by the use of an air-pump. I have found that a substantially circular motion in a vertical, or nearly so, plane of the agitating member when of sufficient rapidity, with the agitating member arranged to incline during its forward and upward motion, as shown and described, actually causes a lifting or throwing up in the air to such an extent and in such a manner that by such an action of the agitating member on the contents of vessel D a part of it assumes the shape of a ring or annulus of approximately the same diameter as the diameter of the motion of the said agitating member. This rapidly rotating annulus thus formed by part of the mass to be aerated being continually, so to speak, flayed by the wire loops or equivalent, and therefore in a more or less subdivided state more in the nature of long thin shreds or sheets, and thereby confining small quantities of air, the latter, as well as the particles of air clinging to the wire loops, is continually being carried into and incorporated with the mass, with the result thata thorough aeratingis obtained in a most satisfactory manner and in almost as short a length of time as if an air-pump had been employed for the purpose of forcibly injecting air into the mass, as described in said application Serial No. 78,018. In principle this mode of aerating substances is similar to the well-known way of making oldfashioned candy by continually stringing out and combining again by throwing over a hook the mass until, by means of the air-globules brought into the mass in this manner, same has been increased in bulk to the desired degree. In the herein-described aerating-agitator, however, instead of drawing the mass of candy out in a straight line and donbling up again the rapid circular motion in a substantially vertical plane of the agitatin g-member causes part of the contents of the vessel practically continuously to be projected out in an ever-recurring stringy stream or streak in the shape of an annulus well adapted, by reason of its great surface exposed to the air, to serve as a vehicle for the air in being drawn into and incorporated with the mass in a similar, however, more continuous and more rapid, way than the process of pulling candy.

I have found it to be necessary for the wire loops or agitating-arms to be inclined at an angle substantially as shown, as otherwise the mass or a part of same cannot be projected up in the air in a sufficientlysubdivided state, and thereby exposing such a large surface to the air as is necessary if the aerating is to be thorough and rapid without fatiguing the operator.

In beating up the whites of eggs or cream and similar substances, which very soon become frothy and cling to the walls of the containing vessel, I prefer to use vessels of elliptical form, as shown, for the purpose of bringing almost the whole of the contents of the vessel within the reach or sweep of the agitating member, thereby preventing the mass or part of it from clingingto the walls undisturbed and out of reach of the wire loops or equivalent.

I do not wish to confine myself to the precise angle ofinclination of the agitatingmemher as herein shown, since to obtain best results same varies with the rapidity of the motion of the agitating member, but lay claim to the arrangement of this member at such an angle as will cause part of the mass to be projected up, as and for the purpose described.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. An aerating-agitator, comprising a pivotally-supported agitating member and means for imparting a substantially circular motion to said agitating member in an approximately vertical plane, the agitating member being forwardly inclined in the plane of its movement, substantially as described.

2. An aerating-agitator, comprising an agitating member, means for imparting a substantially circular motion to said agitating member and means for guiding the same, the agitating member being inclined forwardly in the plane of its movement, substantially as described.

3. An aerating-agitator comprising in its construction a suitable frame, gear-wheels revolubly mounted in the same horizontal plane thereon, a crank carried by each of the gear-wheels, means for rotating the said gearwheels in unison, and an agitating member pivotally attached to the free ends of said cranks, substantially as described.

4. An aerating-agitator comprising a suitable frame, gear-wheels rotatably mounted thereon in the same horizontal plane, an operating-gear having teeth intermeshing with ICC I to

the said first-mentioned gears for rotating the same in unison, a crank carried by each of said first-mentioned gears, an arm pivotally attached to and connecting the free ends of said cranks, and an agitating member carried by said arm, substantially as described.

5. An aerating-agitator comprising a suitable frame, gear-wheels revolubly mounted thereon, a crank secured to each gear-wheel, an arm pivotally connecting the free ends of said cranks, and an agitator member carried by the said arm and extending at an angle to the vertical plane transverse that of its movement, substantially as described.

6. An aerating-agitator, comprising a plurality of rotatably-mounted cranks, means for rotating said cranks in unison, and an agitating member pivotally attached to the said cranks, substantially as described.

7. An aerating-agitator, comprising a plurality of cranks mounted in the same horizontal plane, means for rotating said cranks, a link pivotally securing said cranks together,

and an agitating member secured to said link,

substantially as described.

8. An aerating-agitator, comprising a plurality of cranks pivotally supported in the same horizontal plan e, means for rotating said cranks, a link pivotally connecting said cranks, and an agitating member carried by said link at an angle thereto, substantially as described.

9. An aerating-agitator, comprising a plurality of cranks pivotally mounted, a pitman connecting the same, an agitating member 

